When I started sewing my wardrobe about two years ago, a whole world opened up. Other sewists have said it before (and said it more eloquently), but sewing made me love my body. I realized that when RTW clothes don’t fit in the dressing room, it’s because there is something wrong with the clothes, not something wrong with my body. Sewing my own garments has made me realize (not just in my head, but in my soul) that truly, no two bodies are alike and I should never feel “less than” because I don’t fit into something off the rack.

That said, even with sewing, I am still running into “fat girl” syndrome – that sinking feeling when I realize I am outside of a given pattern’s size range. I’m not talking about having to blend a few sizes, or do a standard alteration like a full bust adjustment. I’m speaking to the not-so-infrequent situations where a pattern stops short of what a reasonable person would consider “plus size.”

Here’s what runs through my head when I see that this pattern isn’t “meant” for me:

I am too fat for this dress/shirt/pants.

Um, no. This concept makes me want to say all the bad words. If sewing for myself has taught me anything, you are NEVER too fat to wear anything.

Ladies of all shapes and sizes can rock whatever look they want (and do it with awesome results) if given the proper tools. But still… what does it say that the pattern doesn’t come in my size? Maybe it’s that…

This pattern designer does not want to see people “like” me in his/her designs.

Much like the fat-shaming incidents with Lulu Lemon and Abercrombie & Fitch, I’m sure there are some pattern designers out there that don’t want chubby chicks messing up their cool image. Again, cue all the bad words coming from my mouth. Or maybe not – perhaps these designers are all about inclusivity. But given the notable lack of curvy (let alone outright fat) girls incorporated into the branding of most pattern designers, I do wonder. (Colette and Cashmerette, you two are a blessed oasis – rock on.)

Maybe I’m over-reacting.

Once I dig my way out of the shame spiral, I am able to clearly articulate reasons why a pattern designer might not choose to be more inclusive in their sizing:

There are fewer women in the upper reaches of the sizes – there simply isn’t enough market to justify designing a plus-size range.

Plus sizes have a different body block – that is, going from a size 6 to 8 to 10 is not the same (geometrically speaking) as going from a 22 to 24 to 26. Fat bodies are different than skinny bodies in terms of general proportion – while our busts get significantly bigger, our shoulders generally do not, nor do our arms grow in length at the same proportion that our waists do.

Doing *good* designs for a range of sizes may double the work – since it’s not just a matter of extending out the current sizing method. And if there aren’t enough fat ladies buying the larger pattern sizes, the return on investment goes way down.

People outside the range of the current sizing can simply grade up a pattern. We’ve seen lots of examples on the CSC of pattern grading (Tanya’s ridiculously awesome trench coat comes to mind.) My current size 20-22 means that I often fit in the top half of the largest pattern size, but need to grade out the hips a couple of inches.

So what do I (or we, as the CSC) do about it?

Obviously, I want pattern designers to be commercially successful. I recognize that people gotta pay their bills. Still… do I want to give my hard-earned money to a designer who doesn’t think it’s “worth it” (for whatever reason) to include people of my size in their offerings?

What message am I sending to myself, to the designer, and to the world when I buy from a designer that doesn’t include me in their sizing? On the flip side, what do I give up when I choose to boycott non-inclusive pattern designers? For one, I would be dramatically limiting myself to only a few designers that do consistently use inclusive sizing.

I’m on the fence – I want to make a point in “voting with my pocketbook” to support those designers that officially see me as part of their target demographic. But on the other hand, I’m not sure how effective a boycott really is.

Would it be more effective to grade up patterns and show the designers how awesome their patterns can be on a larger body in hopes of convincing them to be more inclusive? Or would doing that simply emphasize that fat ladies are willing to grade up and therefore designers don’t need to do the work?

Like this:

About Jennifer W

Jennifer is an avid sewist, preferring instant gratification projects over fancy finishes. She travels internationally (always hitting up the local fabric store), leaving her family to take care of two kids, two dogs, three cats, 11 chickens, and two goats. She is on instagram at @weboughtamanor.

Comments

‘Grading-up’ (or down, for that matter) more than a couple of sizes *at most* is, I suggest, a fool’s game in most instances. Why pay significant sums of money, be it to Big 4/2 or a small indie, for a pattern which you then have to do a whole heap of extra work yourself – work that should have been done by a professional, and included in the cost of the pattern?

There are plenty of patterns produced in appropriate sizes to fit the great majority of fat/plus-sized women (I can’t speak for the situation wrt men or children) without needing more than minimal alteration – I know this, because I use them all the time.

I wouldn’t say that I “boycott” those patterns, as it implies that I am making some kind of statement by deliberately not buying those patterns – but I don’t buy them. This is mostly because my sewing time is limited, and here in Australia it is a very expensive hobby.

If the pattern stops at size 14, it’s a lot of time and tweaking to make it fit my size 20 body I won’t take the risk of spending $100 on fabric and pattern and hours of precious time on a garment that has a high probability of either not working at all, or looking terrible. One of the reasons I started reading this blog is so that I could get a better feel for what patterns do work for women closer to my body type, and although it’s kind of boring, I tend to stick with those!

I wouldn’t boycott for this reason. I’ve spoken to designers who talk a lot about wanting to extend their size ranges, but as you mention in your post, there’s a lot more to it than just expanding all the measurements. One designer I’ve spoken to is trying to develop a template she can use for this in the future, but she really struggles with all the different body shapes that come with offering plus sizes. In many cases, the indy designers are willing to help you adjust the pattern for yourself if you reach out to them, but pattern sales do not offset the extra work to incorporate the extra sizes in every pattern.

For me it’s not only a question of sizing but also a question of price. I’m three different sizes between my bust, waist and hip measurements and I always have to do some type of adjusting which is why I wait for patterns to go on sale before I buy them. With the big four pattern companies, I know for the most part I can always find a sale and that my size ranges will generally be in the same pattern envelop. With independent pattern makers because they’re indy they stay at their price point so if it doesn’t come in a size close to my range I’m not comfortable with buying the pattern. It’s one thing to grade a pattern from a size 20 to a 22 -24 it’s another to grade from a size 16 to 24.

I don’t take it personally. And, I won’t boycott anything that isn’t in the service of correcting or changing social injustice. As a feminist, my thought on body shaming are pretty fixed but I don’t assume that smaller pattern sizes fall I to that category. What I do wonder, though, is it because the designer isn’t accomplished enough to size beyond their own size. It does take skill and it causes me to rethink buying the pattern.

I love this post! I haven’t read all of the comments as there are so many and it’s a bit hard on my phone. I’d love to boycott, but so many of the plus size patterns are horrible! I hate having to grade so much though. I also love that you use the word fat. It isn’t a word that should have a negative connotation. Yep, I’m fat, but I’m still pretty bloody fabulous!! I don’t know why, but I’d much prefer it to “thick”, or “large” or the kazillion other words people use in desperation so they don’t have to say fat. Thank you for the article.

I found your comments interesting and, as a new clothing sewist, I haven’t really kept up with styles, sizes and who is doing what to fit normal sized women. I have only been sewing clothing (I am mostly a quilter) for a short time, very, very inexperienced, (had no idea what most of the pattern symbols meant) and need all the help I can get even on some of what you all would consider the simplest construction. I have already modified patterns once I tried on my muslin mock-up and decided that it might look good on that woman on the front of the pattern package, but it sure doesn’t look good on me! I am learning so much and loving the creativity part of it, by being fearless with the muslin, cutting and resewing, adding lots of darts, etc. Of course, all this takes time so I don’t have many finished products (yet), but for beginning sewists, it’s a great way to gain confidence. I have learned how things come together to drape properly, how a dart can drastically enhance areas that are otherwise difficult to be satisfied with, accentuate the best parts of my body and ‘hide’ the parts I don’t even like to see : ( I spent years starting and stopping because I was afraid to make mistakes, following patterns that in the end were doomed to failure. When I get finished, it doesn’t look much like the pattern I bought, but it looks good on me and that’s all that matters, right? With all the excellent and very experienced sewists on this site, do we really need to wait until the pattern makers create what we like or supposedly will fit us? Why not do it ourselves from a few basic patterns we already have in our stashes. From looking at all the great projects I have seen on this site, I know you can be whipping out some one-of-a-kind outfits. beyond fabric choices. Let’s be fearless with those shears!

You have a wonderful attitude, “oldlady”, and you are willing to just dive in and do the work. To me, fitting my own body is the challenge and I won’t let the fact that a pretty pattern doesn’t come in my size defeat me. After all, who knows your body better than you? I also agree with Ali’s comments about the designers. Designing is not the same as actually making the pattern. You can draw to your heart’s content, but if you can’t translate your “design” into a paper pattern, then you are not a pattern maker, you are a designer, and vice versa. So in the end, it is a collaboration of skills needed to make a pattern in a wide array of sizes. An example: I drew the picture of the house I wanted, but my carpenter husband had to translate my “design” into the actual “house”!

I’m in my late 60s and have pretty much boycotted the pattern makers with no extended sizes or only ugly designs for the past 25 years. Sure I can add darts, seams, etc. but never felt that results were first rate. Since I have livedin big city it was easier to go shopping and spend my disposable income elsewhere.

I applaud the plus size models getting jobs and wish full sized women got the respect that our dollars deserve!

Just to add another angle, for designers at McCalls and Burda, the non-plus sizes are drafted with a B cup on a base size 10. Once the company grades up or down a few sizes, proportions begin to distort, which is why Burda’s Plus is drafted on a larger C cup base with more ease. The 44 regular and 44 Plus are two different sizes because they are drafted off two different bases with 44Plus being drafted down from a larger base and 44 being drafted up from the smaller base. If a company isn’t careful or conscientious, just drafting up more to create a broader size range really won’t solve the problem as then the pattern’s proportions are really off like an overly long back waist length or overly broad shoulder seamlines. Then the company gets terrible reviews from consumers and rather than invest more time in pattern creation/testing with larger bases, they just keep the smaller sizes that are more “standard” as the consumers show higher levels of satisfaction with no changes to the company’s overall design. Personally, I try to find a company who’s base is more me and making minor adjustments to personalize rather then spending an enormous amount of time with trial in error. Its not a serious boycott, but I’m not wasting money on bad choices, just like I won’t go into H&M juniors department and buy things that fit poorly. My favorites for my body now are StyleArc Patterns, BurdaPlus, and Itch to Stitch Patterns, and sometimes the custom fit/amazing fit from the Big 4. For reference I’m 5’2, C cup, pear with a curvy bottom. In commercial sizes, I’m between a 16-20 petite.

The Big 4 certainly leave something to be desired in their women’s/plus-size designs and the availability of other designs in sizes over 20. I think they are slowly coming around, but it does take time.
For more stylish plus-size patterns, I’m turning more and more to Burda Style magazine and PDF patterns. Unfortunately, really flattering styles from Burda have become as rare as snake teeth, but up to about 3 years ago they had some great plus size designs. It would be worth it to purchase those back issues or just go onto the website, scroll through the dozens of plus size styles in each garment category, and buy the ones you want. Granted, you have tape pages together and trace/add seam allowances, and you’ll still have to alter the pattern for your individual fit needs, and the instructions are not as detailed as a Big 4 pattern, but it may be a better starting point for some women.
Ottobre Woman magazine, which I think comes out 2x a year, also has some great, stylish designs that are inclusive in their sizing, and they tend to show models in several different sizes.
Plus-size women are not the minority. But we do present drafting challenges for the traditional Big 4 companies that they are not equipped to deal with on a large scale. Surprisingly. They should be. But they’re not. Maybe it’s because they don’t want to be. Maybe it’s because they’re deluded about how big the plus-size market really is. But if a few indie designers can successfully venture into this arena, the Big 4 should be able to as well.

I sew because it is hard for me to find clothes that I like that fit properly. That said, I dislike having to do huge grade ups – say from a size 14 to a size 28. Might as well just do my own designs (if I had the skills). I don’t know what the answer is here. I guess I am boycotting some designers in that I won’t buy a pattern that is just way too small for me.

I have enjoyed reading all the comments. I have been taking Craftsy classes to learn to grade to fit me Bot I didn’t know there were so many indie pattern companies for plus size. Is there a list I could get?

This might be an option for those who don’t wish to grade or alter. I used this service about 10 years ago. It was pretty cool, but too expensive for me to continue. Basically, if I remember correctly, you take about gazillion different measurements, submit them to the company and then order patterns based on your measurements alone. The catalog doesn’t appear to be too dowdy or teeny-bopper and there’s no upper or lower end to the spectrum because it’s made to measure

I seriously doubt that even a write in campaign would work. In selling patterns like I do, I noted several patterns that not only sold out almost instantly, but for some stupid reason they only published them for about 6 months. For years I kept getting requests for those patterns, so be a nice person, I wrote the company to let them know how much people wanted those patterns and perhaps they should republish, and I’m not talking 20 year old patterns here, but those in current style. I was ignored.

Then McCalls came out with a caftan pattern, yet again published for less than a year. Yet another pattern I couldn’t keep in stock and still get requests on. I’ve had some patterns that I have sold up to 20 copies of and yet the pattern is completely out of print. the pattern companies go by their own agenda for why some patterns are available for years and others (the ones people want) are barely available for any length of time.

I doubt if a letter campaign will do much individually. It might as a united force or via other ways, such as writing into whatever your favorite sewing magazine about your concerns. Think too many people write in and your letter would never be published? Think again. They always want well written pertinent letters. I think I have had around 10 published over the last few years. So there is no harm in trying.

As some of the other ladies have mentioned, I grew up in homemade clothes and my mom always had to make adjustment as I was big boned (REALLY!), broad shouldered and flat chested, oh yah tall too! My friends in HS and college used to laugh at me due to my flatness. Somehow I am now 44DD! I found that the plus size fitting mannequin my husband bought me, has high ‘perky’ boobs, and since “Annabelle” is made of some hard plastic material there is no way to drop the boobs to where they are on me. I’m also tall, at least I was until age and arthritis has bent my back, an alteration I have no desire to deal with. I’m mostly at home and have no need for work clothes, all I want is comfort at this point in my life. Whenever I have tried to alter for either myself of hubby, it goes magnificently horrible! So understanding that I don’t want to alter, I’m just as happy with reusing the same patterns over and over.

I’m sorry, but many of you are SO missing the point here. Some are visually impaired, some may have scoliosis, some may have had a mastectomy of one or both breasts, some may have lost a limb though disease, injury or war. Some of you may have one limb bigger or smaller, longer or shorter, than the other. Some of you are tiny, tiny, while others are beautifully larger than “the average”. The real point here is that if you think any, ANY pattern company can or should accommodate all of what could be your fitting challenges, then you are just delusional. This is why we sew, because so many of us DO have these issues, and with a little skill, practice or help from a willing comrade, we can get what we are looking for in design and fit. I’m sure I will get a lot of flack for this opinion, but, sorry, this is our reality until someone discovers a foolproof method of taking into consideration every single thing that could possibly be a challenge to your sewing and being able to fix it in one magical pattern. It just ain’t gonna happen.

I am the visually impaired person to whom you refer, and speak only for myself.

NOWHERE do I claim any entitlement to special treatment; I have no need for such as I have discovered pattern brands which work for me *and my clients*,

Yes, you read that right – a visually-impaired person who can and does sew not only for herself but also for others.

The point = which you clearly missed – in my post was to object to the blanket statement that ‘all women can grade’.

No. Some women – such as myself – have a physical impairment which makes this an impossibility. Other women may have other factors which make this impossible. I believe in finding workarounds to blanket statements of this nature (which usually originate from a position of ignorance rather than one of arrogance), wherever possible, but such blanket statements are always untrue and often hurtful to the more-sensitive.

If the person to whose comment I originally replied had written, instead, ‘MOST women can LEARN simple grading techniques’ I would have no axe to grind at all. (BTW I

Actually, I was not referring to you, personally, in my comment – just pointing out that there are so many reasons why it is virtually impossible for pattern companies to make a pattern that everyone will be happy with. And, yes, I DO agree with you that assuming anyone can grade a pattern is wrong. You have confirmed in your response to me exactly what I was trying to say, (poorly, indeed, and I apologize if I have offended anyone) that we need to find workarounds to our individual challenges rather than insist pattern companies try to accommodate every single issue we may have. I did not miss your point at all – it just seems, from the number of posts on this topic, that no one is happy these days unless everything fits into a nice little box and reality says that it’s just not practical. I’m sticking to my guns on this, but again, no offense was meant and I certainly had no intention of singling you out. And, by the way, I fit into one of those examples I mentioned in my post, and yet I have been sewing for over 50 years (personally and professionally) and it never stopped me, no matter what patterns I used!

I was the original poster who said that “all women can grade” and you are absolutely right — it was a mis-statement that was ignorant. I apologize. I should have noted that all women can “learn” to grade, but even the knowledge doesn’t mean we are able or willing to do it. Thanks for the gentle correction.

I think the issue though is that pattern companies clearly *do* try to accommodate a range of body types, just not fat ones. It’s absolutely true that nobody is exactly the same size and almost everyone has to make some alterations. But if the expectation was that everyone would make a pattern their own, companies wouldn’t put out a variety of sizes at all: they’d give you one size and make everyone adjust from there. Except instead we have the expectation that companies don’t need to make patterns drafted for larger bodies because fat people can just grade up (even if what that actually means for many people is practically redrafting the pattern).

Also it’s not as if fat people are some tiny proportion of the market. The average dress size in the US is a 14. That means presumably 50% of the market is looking for a *larger* size. So why is it unreasonable to ask for companies to draft for those sizes?